New York, I Love You
by adrianecole93
Summary: Hermione asks Ron to accompany her on a weekend business trip to New York City. Ron thinks it would be the perfect time to share his feelings for her, but it turns out Hermione has her own problems.
1. Chapter 1

New York, I Love You

Summary: Hermione asks Ron to accompany her on a weekend business trip to New York City. Ron thinks it would be the perfect time to share his feelings for her, but it turns out Hermione has her own problems.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

Author Note: First fanfic so please be gentle with the reviews. Rated M starting in chapter 4

Ron Wesley was sitting at his desk in the Auror Office finishing up some paperwork from his major arrest last night. Although the war had been over for 4 years now, there were still some groups trying to keep Voldemort's legacy alive. However most of these people were amateurs and were usually caught and put in Azkaban before any real damage was caused. He looked at his watch, It was almost 5 o'clock, and since he was not investigating any cases tonight, 5 o'clock marked the end of his day.

A paper airplane flew onto his desk, scattering his paperwork everywhere. He sighed, waved his wand once and all the papers stacked themselves neatly back in place. He opened the note which read:

_Ron, please come to my office as soon as possible, I need to discuss something with you_

_-Hermione_

Ron picked up his briefcase and coat, figuring he would just leave the Ministry from Hermione's office. He walked down the hallway to the lifts and pressed the button on the inside to take him to Level 3, the Muggle Liaison office, which at only 21, Hermione was the head of.

"Hello Quinn." Ron waved to Hermione's secretary.

"Hello Ronald." Quinn giggled.

Ron grinned

Quinn was only 17, going in to her seventh year at Hogwarts, but she was the daughter of somebody who had landed her a part time job at the Ministry for the summer. Ron knew Hermione couldn't stand her. She had long blonde hair, breasts that seemed just too large for her small frame and the common sense and brains of a 6 year old.

Ron didn't blame her, he had tried to strike up conversations with Quinn in the past but they either turned into her giggling or airy chat of partying and fashion. But regardless, Ron was still a guy and she never failed to make him stare, just a few seconds longer.

"Hermione says you can go in now" Quinn said, giggling.

"Thank you" Ron said, snapping out of his trance.

He pushed the door to her office open and there was Hermione at her desk, sitting next to her was a man, they were leaning over, looking at something on her desk but when Ron walked in they sprang apart, just a little. A familiar spark ignited inside Ron, he wasn't quite sure what the feeling was but it made him angry and defensive.

"Hi Ron, this is Arley he is the new Junior Assistant to the Minister" Hermione said and Ron thought he detected a little anxiety in her voice.

Ron shook his hand and Arley left the room, leaving Ron and Hermione alone. Ron smiled at her.

HeHermione's hair had tamed and turned wavy since their Hogwarts days. She had also started worrying more about her appearance since she started working at the Ministry. Her nails were manicured, her make-up was expertly put on every day and her she had invested time and money into business suits and pumps.

She stood up from behind her desk and gave Ron a friendly hug. Although they still remained close friends, Hermione had been very busy at work with her new promotion which she said had been the reason for her absence from the past 5 get togethers with Harry, Ron and Ginny.

"It's good to see you Ron, I miss everyone" Hermione said.

"Yeah, it's been far too long," he agreed. "What did you want to talk to me about?"

"Oh yes, sit down" Hermione said, as she walked back behind her desk.

Ron did as he was told, grinning slightly. Hermione had become even bossier since she had gained Head position, not in a mean way, and Ron secretly liked it.

"Well Ron, I heard that you made the arrest of Vulcan Cassius for terrorizing those Muggles. It turns out; he is one of the leaders of the group, Reborn Death Eaters. There are estimated to be 200 members of his clan in England and 100 currently residing in New York City. I have been asked to go to New York City to alert Chief of Police, Raymond Kelly, about the situation so he can keep a lookout and know what he is really up against. I have been advised to take an Auror with me for protection in case we run into any of these members, and well I was really hoping you would come with me." Hermione finished almost shyly.

Ron had to stop himself from yelling out an immediate "Yes!" Instead he pretended to think it over in his head for a minute.

"Well since it's just me and Ginny at the flat, I would have to make sure that somebody could stay with her while I'm gone, I'm worried about her being by herself."

"I'm sure Harry would be more than happy to stay with her." Hermione smiled.

Ron almost protested, but refrained and just made a gagging noise instead. Hermione slapped him on the shoulder, "I guess I'll take that as a yes, we leave tonight at 9 o'clock, come to my flat and we will apperate to the hotel together."


	2. Chapter 2

Ron exited her office; he didn't even acknowledge Quinn who, when he walked by she tried to talk to him again. Ron was excited, while he was sure that Hermione had only asked him to attend because he was already involved in the case and was a good Auror, he couldn't help fantasizing about all the possibilities that could happen during this trip and her alternate motives. Ron made it to the fireplaces in the Atrium allowed the green flames to whisk him away to Harry's flat. He assumed Ginny would be there and he wanted to tell her about his trip and make sure she could stay with Harry for the weekend.

Hermione sighed and leaned back in her chair and put her head in her hands. It had been a long week, and she was looking forward to the weekend in New York, a place she had always wanted to go but never seemed to have the time or money for. Although the meeting with the chief of police was sure to take only an hour, Hermione had somehow talked her department head into paying for 3 nights in a luxury New York hotel. This way she could spend the weekend with Ron, sightseeing and exploring the city. A weekend away would be a nice break from work and from…

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" Arley burst into the room.

Hermione tensed in her chair and her eyes widened, wondering how he could possibly know the conversation that had gone on with Ron minutes before.

"Wh-h-at are you talking about?" Hermione's voice shook.

"Spending a romantic getaway with Weasley this weekend?" he shouted.

"How did you know that?" Hermione almost cried.

"That slut Quinn let me listen in to the conversation if I fingered her, that's how! You are such a dirty liar. What do you think is going to happen in New York?" Arley continued, advancing on Hermione. "Do you think you and Ron are going to fall in love and then you can leave me? That Ron will find out about us and save you? Well you are seriously mistaken, bitch. This is as good as it gets, here with me. No one else wants your fat, lazy, and stupid ass around, much less want to fuck it. I'm basically doing you a charity by sleeping with you; I'm doing what no other man will ever do to you because you're so ugly. All I ask is more a little loyalty in return, and I don't even get that." Arley exploded.

"Please" Hermione whimpered as she shrank against the wall.

"See there you go being weak and whiney again." He yanked her up by her hair and backhanded Hermione across the face. She screamed.

Arley dropped her, leaving her crying on the floor.

"Have a nice weekend, bitch" he said as he walked out.

Hermione remained where he left her for 10 minutes. But, just as she did every night, she picked herself back up, wiped away the tears, reapplied her mascara, grabbed her purse and left the office and headed home to her flat.

When she first met Arley 2 months ago, she thought he was a dream; charming, handsome, chivalrous, she was even more surprised when he had almost immediately asked her out. The date was like a fairy tale, he picked her up, gave her a bouquet of flowers, took her to a fancy dinner downtown and then afterward to a Blues Club, where she drank a little too much and ended the date with a steamy make-out session in the back of his town car. She was surprised but incredibly flattered that he almost immediately asked her to be his exclusive girlfriend. But shortly thereafter, things started going downhill. The first time they, tried, to have se he couldn't perform and told her it was because she was too fat, ugly and inexperienced that it made it impossible for him to have sex with her. As she rolled over that night to sleep with tears in her eyes, she felt him get up, make a phone call and leave, coming back 3 hours later telling her "Since you couldn't do it, I had to get someone else who could."

The ironic thing was Hermione was a strong person. She was smart and had a good career. When she used to go out, men would hit on her constantly. She had helped defeat Voldemort and lived in a tent for 6 months with 2 boys for god sake! But Hermione's weakness was her emotions. When she was in school she never allowed herself to fall for anyone and she never dated. Now she was 21 and in a career and she was starting to feel incredibly lonely. She didn't understand why men never showed any interest in her besides a few lines in a bar. So she had come to the conclusion that it wasn't them, but that it was her. Once she came to this realization, she was blocked by the rest of the world by a shield of self-consciousness. And at first, Arley filled the loneliness within her, until he became abusive.

Hermione remained consumed with her thoughts until she reached her flat, when she tripped over a huge flower bouquet on her doorstep. She smiled, bent down to read the card attached.

"_I'm so sorry baby. Have fun in New York and I can't wait until you get home_

_-Love Arley_

Hermione smiled. She wasn't an idiot. She knew he would just do the same things again but she felt, at that time, that that was better than being alone, at least.


	3. Chapter 3

Ron arrived back at the flat he shared with Ginny at about 8 o'clock that night. The 3 of them were catching up and Ron didn't notice the time fly by. When he realized the time, he left Harry and Ginny, feeling a bit uneasy about the arrangement and apperated back home to pack.

Normally for weekend trips, he would just use magic to pack his bag. But something about this particular trip made Ron want to look nice, put together and handsome. While he was choosing his clothes, a little voice at the back of his head kept repeating, "Would Hermione think this looks good?" But Ron banished this thought out of his head. After he was all packed, he looked at his watch, 8:30. He decided he would rather be early than late and Hermione would be very impressed if he was early for once. So with one last look around he grabbed ahold of his bag and apperated to Hermione's flat.

He knocked on her door, staring at the brass 111 upon it. He heard a nervous voice call from inside the apartment, "Who's there?"

"It's Ron."

He heard her unlock 3 deadbolts and the chain on the door, in the back of his mind wondered why she needed so many locks on her door.

Her face poked out, and he heard her give a sigh of relief.

"You're early" she smiled.

"I was done packing early so I thought I would come over, catch up and go over details of this weekend before we left." He said.

"That's great, come in," Hermione said opening the door to let him inside.

"I haven't showered yet, I caught up working a little bit late at work, so I'm a bit behind schedule. All of my clothes are laid out on my bed; will you please just put them in my suitcase? Then you can help yourself to some food in the fridge." She smiled, knowing how to reward Ron.

"Of course, I will." He said.

"Thank you so much" Hermione said as she headed to the bathroom and shut the door.

Ron made way across the small flat into her bedroom. He saw all the clothes on her bed, neatly folded, typical Hermione, he grinned. He unzipped her suitcase and worked very carefully to make sure her clothes didn't get crushed or messy. While he was putting her shirts in the bag one by one, he saw a small notebook nestled between two of the blouses.

Ron froze, her diary. He had been wondering if she had feelings for him since their 6th year when he sensed some jealously from her because of Lavender, but he had been dying to know even more since he realized that he had feelings for her too.

Ron listened and still heard the water running from the bathroom, so that would give him enough time for a peek at least. He opened the first page expecting to see a diary entry of some sort. He was shocked with what he saw.

To be Prettier:

Lose 20 pounds, goal weight 100 pounds

Never leave house without make up

Weekly manicures and pedicures

Bi-Weekly waxes

Learn new spells for hair styles

Purchase new lingerie

Ron nearly got tears in his eyes. He couldn't read any further when he saw the next heading, My Flaws:

He closed the book and put the rest of the clothes in her bag, consumed in his thoughts. Why would Hermione write those things about herself, much less have a whole book dedicated to her flaws?

His mind flashed back. Three Months Ago:

_He was sitting in his room, things were desperately slow at work and he had been getting sent home early every day, and his boss had given him the whole weekend off. He was just about to write a letter to his mother when an owl flew into his room and dropped a letter on his head. _

_Ron, I am incredibly bored and I was wondering if you would like to come over and hang out with me today._

_-Hermione_

_Ron didn't even bother replying, he just spun on his heel and apperated to her flat. Hermione was sitting on her couch with the T.V in the background, something Ron had to get used to seeing as he didn't grow up with one but Hermione did. She was wearing a pair of jeans and a loose pullover sweatshirt that came slightly off the shoulder when she moved. Ron was pleasantly surprised, he was used to seeing her either at work or when they went out with Harry and Ginny, both times her hair and make- up was done and she was wearing work clothes and uncomfortable looking shoes. She looked up at him and he only vaguely noticed she was talking to him. He was instead more interested in her. She had no make-up on today, he hair was curly and natural, it was the first time in a long time he had seen her like that, and he definitely liked it more than dressed up Hermione. That night progressed and 3 bottles of wine later, they ended up falling asleep next to each other _

To this day Ron couldn't describe the feeling of waking up next to her.

His eyes landed on the trash can in the corner of the room next to her desk. There was a huge bunch of very live flowers crushed into the can. Ron couldn't understand why a girl would throw away new flowers. He walked over and on the top saw the card "Love Arley."

"Who the hell is…." The thought didn't even completely finish forming in his head when he remembered earlier today, the man in her office. He felt the anger welling up inside him, imagining what this man had done to her.

Ron heard the shower turn off so he quickly walked out of her room and into the kitchen to find something to hold him over. He was about to open the refrigerator door when he noticed a piece of paper stuck to it. Ron looked over it and from what he saw it looked like a diet plan and at the bottom of the sheet he noticed it said 700 calories per day. Now Ron didn't know much about diets and nutrition but he did know that the average person needed about 2,000 calories per day and 700 was nothing short of starvation.

Ron was getting worried. Between the journal he found in her room, the thrown away flowers and this extreme dieting plan, he wondered what had been going on in the past month when they had rarely seen each other and who was this Arley guy?

His curiosity was cut short when Hermione came out of her room, hair and make-up done wearing a little black dress and stilettos and carrying her suitcase.

"Are you ready to go?" She smiled.

And Ron for once forgot about his stomach for 2 minutes,

"Yes" he said.

She held out her hand, closed her eyes and concentrated very hard on the location

100 EAST 50th STREET NEW YORK


	4. Chapter 4

Her feet slammed down hard on a sidewalk and once she gained her composure, she took a looked around. She was standing in front of a huge, stone building. Since it was nighttime, it was all was lit up and she saw the glowing gold sign before her, 'The Waldorf-Astoria.'

"Okay Ron, here we are."

Ron was staring open mouthed at the building. Hermione had to give him a tug toward the door where a white-gloved doorman held open the door to let them in. Hermione nodded and thanked the man, and Ron just stared.

The lobby was magnificent; marble floors, crystal chandeliers, huge plants and fresh flowers all within a high ceilinged room.

Hermione walked smartly toward the front desk with Ron, still starry eyed, following behind her.

"Hello and welcome to the Waldorf, how can I help you this evening?" the woman behind the desk said.

Hermione took the lead, as she was so good at doing.

"Hello, we need to check in. The reservation is under Hermione Granger, for a guest room with 2 queen beds I believe."

The woman typed something into her computer and frowned slightly.

"Miss, do you know who originally made these reservations for you?" the woman asked.

"Yes, my friend Ginny Weasley, is something wrong?"

"Well ma'am, she called about an hour ago and upgraded the room to a luxury suite, but that only has one king bed in it an unfortunately we just gave away the original room to a walk in guest."

Hermione was speechless, why would Ginny do something like that? Ginny was the only person that knew about Arley and Hermione would be in so much trouble if he found out about this. After a few moments of Hermione looking horror- struck, Ron chimed in.

"That is great thank you."

"I'm very sorry about the mix up, I will have room service bring up a bottle of champagne to your room," the woman said. "Here are the keys, is there anything else I do for you tonight?" the woman asked.

"No thank you" Ron said and led a still mortified Hermione over to the elevators up to their room.

When Ron unlocked the door to the room, amazement took over Hermione's shock. The door let into a lavishly decorated sitting room and dining room, double doors opened and led to the master suite. Hermione quickly sought out the bar and poured a drink, sat down and waited for Ron to follow suite.

"Why would Ginny do that to me? I am so embarrassed." Hermione said in monotone, staring at the floor

"To be honest Hermione, I'm a little offended about how mortified you are." Ron joked. "Seriously, I'll sleep on the floor if you need me to, we've had to sleep together before, and it's not that big of a deal."

"You don't understand" Hermione said barely above a whisper as she gulped down more of her liquor. "Arley will be so mad."

"Yes please tell me what is going on between you and this Arley guy" Ron said seriously, moving to sit next to her on the couch. He already had come to the conclusion that it was bad news, and was responsible for the journal lists and diet plans.

"He's just this guy I've been seeing." Hermione brushed off.

"Why haven't I heard about him until now?" Ron said.

"Because it's not really any of your business." She snapped, tears welling up in her eyes.

"I think it is, I'm worried about you."

"That's stupid, don't be, it's no big deal, just a guy I sleep with sometimes, or is that too hard for you to believe that someone would actually be interested in me like that?" she said defensively.

Ron decided to ignore that last comment, if there was something really going on here, saying something would only fuel the fire.

"Hermione, I saw the diet sheet on your fridge" Ron continued lightly. "What makes you think that you need to cut down to 700 calories per day, that's insane."

"Just trying to lose a few pounds, it's normal." She yelled.

"Hermione…I…also caught a glimpse of your journal." Ron said.

"WHAT! Are you fucking crazy? I can't believe you just went through my personal life, that's none of your business." Hermione leaped over to the other side of the couch where Ron was sitting and started slapping him and punching him everywhere she could reach. Of course none of these advances hurt Ron at all, she was a foot shorter than he was and from all his Auror training, he was also much more muscular than she. He grabbed her and held her tightly to his chest. She continued to squirm for another minute, before she completely broke down and started sobbing into his shoulder.

Ron never loosened his hold of her. When she started crying, he was mortified for a minute then began stroking her hair, rocking her back and forth. Then his mouth started working.

"Shhh Hermione… everything is going to be okay…I'm here for you… your beautiful…" (that made her cry harder.)

He continued soothing her, after 10 minutes or so when the hiccupping and sniffling stopped, still holding her close he whispered, "I love you" into her ear.

There was a pause, Ron hadn't even realized that he had said that out loud until she looked up at him; her eyes were red, she had tear stains down her cheeks, her hair was out of place but to Ron she looked strangely, beautiful at that moment.

"Really?" she said

For years, he smiled. She laughed a little bit.

"Okay, I'll be right back." She said, she grabbed her bag from the foyer and headed into master room.

Ron was left wondering what she was doing, and whether or not he should be worried about her. To give him something to do, he went over the bar and poured a glass of something, he wasn't even sure what it was at the time. He sat back down on the couch just as the bedroom doors opened. There stood Hermione, she had redone her hair so it fell into cascading waves and she was dressed in…. well Ron wasn't really sure. It was a ridiculous lacy dress that barely covered her ass and she had put on a pair of very high heels to go with it.

She smiled and walked over to Ron, and straddled his lap.

Ron looked completely mortified and his body tensed when she started kissing him all over and whispering, "Come show me how much you love me" and "I want you so bad."

"Hermione!" Ron nearly shouted.

"What's the matter, baby" she moaned continuing to attack every inch of him.

"What are you doing?" he said, gently peeling her off of him.

"I thought you said you loved me," tears coming to her eyes again. "You don't want to have sex with me either?"

"God what the hell is wrong with me? Which one is it Ron, am I too fat? Or just to ugly compared to Lavender Brown and all those other girls you take home?"

She stormed off back into the room, and Ron could hear her sobbing again.

Ron was left feeling like shit and very confused. For one, of course he thought Hermione looked sexy as hell, and if she was any other woman, Ron would have attacked her. But her actions were so unlike Hermione and since there were obviously some issues going on, Ron would have felt wrong doing anything with her.

He wanted their first time to be special. He wanted it to take all night, pleasure her, tease her and wake up in the morning next to her.

Ron knew something was seriously the matter with Hermione. The past couple of hours with her had just been so weird; she was acting so unlike herself. He had to figure out what was going on. He drained his glass, walked over to the double doors and entered the bedroom.


End file.
